A report was recently released by US Congressional leaders that highlighted 10 years of Transportation Security Agency (TSA) operational mismanagement and procedural failures. €A Decade Later: A Call for TSA Reform,€ stresses the need for changes in the Transportation Security Agency.
Originally, the TSA was created to be a lean agency. Its original charter was to analyze intelligence, set security standards and oversee the security structure of US transportation.
But according to US Rep. John L. Mica (R-FL) and Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, €Unfortunately, TSA has lost its way€¦It has strayed from its security mission and mushroomed into a top-heavy bureaucracy that€¦ has 65,000 employees.€
Mica goes on to note that while US travelers are safer today, very little of that can be attributed to the TSA. Instead much of the credit goes to the vigilance of citizens, the installation of reinforced cockpit doors and other factors. For example, the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber, the Times Square bomber and the toner cartridge bomb plot were halted because of the work of the actions of flight crews and the help of foreign agencies
In fact, reports suggest that more than 25,000 security breaches have occurred in US airports since 2001. The missteps of the agency have occurred, according to government officials, because of too much emphasis on political correctness and not enough push for resources to be put on intelligence including technologies that could be more efficient at catching terrorists. The thinking is that travelers are taking the brunt of poorly designed programs that inconvenience and outrage them instead of identifying and preventing terrorist's actions.
The agency has faced heavy turnover, neglect as part of the 21 other Department of Homeland Security Agencies and a lack of priority in naming a new administrator after the position became vacant. It has been alleged to be €misguided, overly bureaucratic and mismanaged€ according to US Rep Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). He is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations of the House Oversight Committee.
Regarding technology, the report charged that the TSA has obligated over $8 billion on screening technology that has been poorly deployed, useless or is sitting idle because no one can operate it.
The report includes a complete review of how the TSA has operated over the last decade plus a list of recommendations to improve the troubled agency. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee prepared the report.
The full PDF document can be found at the US House of Representative's site.
Originally, the TSA was created to be a lean agency. Its original charter was to analyze intelligence, set security standards and oversee the security structure of US transportation.
But according to US Rep. John L. Mica (R-FL) and Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, €Unfortunately, TSA has lost its way€¦It has strayed from its security mission and mushroomed into a top-heavy bureaucracy that€¦ has 65,000 employees.€
Mica goes on to note that while US travelers are safer today, very little of that can be attributed to the TSA. Instead much of the credit goes to the vigilance of citizens, the installation of reinforced cockpit doors and other factors. For example, the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber, the Times Square bomber and the toner cartridge bomb plot were halted because of the work of the actions of flight crews and the help of foreign agencies
In fact, reports suggest that more than 25,000 security breaches have occurred in US airports since 2001. The missteps of the agency have occurred, according to government officials, because of too much emphasis on political correctness and not enough push for resources to be put on intelligence including technologies that could be more efficient at catching terrorists. The thinking is that travelers are taking the brunt of poorly designed programs that inconvenience and outrage them instead of identifying and preventing terrorist's actions.
The agency has faced heavy turnover, neglect as part of the 21 other Department of Homeland Security Agencies and a lack of priority in naming a new administrator after the position became vacant. It has been alleged to be €misguided, overly bureaucratic and mismanaged€ according to US Rep Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). He is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations of the House Oversight Committee.
Regarding technology, the report charged that the TSA has obligated over $8 billion on screening technology that has been poorly deployed, useless or is sitting idle because no one can operate it.
The report includes a complete review of how the TSA has operated over the last decade plus a list of recommendations to improve the troubled agency. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee prepared the report.
The full PDF document can be found at the US House of Representative's site.